


Purdah

by NumberThirteen



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Civil Service, Politics, Purdah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-20 11:41:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3648996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NumberThirteen/pseuds/NumberThirteen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mycroft takes a few moments to think about Purdah and how it applies to his minor role as a civil servant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Purdah

Mycroft Holmes sighed as he pushed his chair back from his heavy wooden desk, allowing his long legs to stretch out. Parliament had finally been dissolved, MPs sent back to their constituencies to fight for the honour of a Parliamentary seat at the forthcoming general election. Purdah was, Mycroft mused, a chance for the civil service to shine, to show what it could do without ministers breathing down its neck, changing policies at the whim of a newspaper editor, and generally getting in the way.

Well, the parts of the civil service that weren't Mycroft Holmes anyway. Mycroft's role was nebulous and far-reaching; created and defined by himself. He had no true peers, no network of colleagues in similar roles. The responsibility and accountability was Mycroft's alone. His intellect had ensured his rapid rise, and his strategic capabilities kept him there. Mycroft Holmes did not operate under standard Parliamentary scrutiny. His loyalty was not to the government of the day. It was to a far older concept. 

Power.

But not power for personal gain. Mycroft's political web spanned all central and regional government departments, the intelligence services and the military, and like a pinstripe spider, he used those multiple strands for information and power. Whispers made their way to his ears, options and possibilities were all accounted and planned for. Mycroft Holmes did not care which party won the general election. It did not really matter. Through him, the power he carried on his shoulders would do its job. Politicians would come and go. But through Mycroft Holmes, the country would continue to run.

**Author's Note:**

> For more information about Purdah as it applies to British politics:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purdah_(pre-election_period)
> 
> If it isn't amazingly obvious to you, I am not Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Steven Moffat or Mark Gatiss. That means I do not own any of the characters in the Sherlock Holmes or Sherlock canon, no matter how much I might wish I did. I'm just playing with them for fun and will dust them down and put them back when I'm finished. Honest.


End file.
